Megalomaniac Billionaire Political Poker

Several days ago Curt, at Flopping Aces had an excellent article (one of the best I’ve seen) about George Soros and the financing of the hard left. I’ve been working on Richard Viguerie and his entangled web of associates for well over a year. I have come to the conclusion that Soros has entered the picture as a counter balance to the vast fundraising empire created by Viguerie, Howard Phillips, Paul Weyrich, Sun Myung Moon and the like. They are a huge money raising machine with vast percentages of the profits going into Viguerie’s American Target Advertising.

We are hearing that the GOP is having a rough time raising money. Is it possible this vacuum is sucking up money thanks to all the hyperactive voices of doom over illegal immigration and immigration reform. It is possible Viguerie’s target marketing and merchandising has finally sucked a terminal hole in his precious conservative movement. If so, I’m glad to see them kick the fund-raising bucket, so to speak. We must face the fact these people are not REPUBLICAN. They are opportunists dealing with a conservative cult leader’s visions of megalomania – the George Soros of the right.

In a strange way all of this makes sense, especially when we consider the purchase of the Washington Times by Moon a few years ago. It made me wonder, at the time, what Moon was up too. Well, now we know. This is not good, not good at all. For years churches have preached that Moon was a cult leader, the poor little Moonies standing out on the freeway exit ramp selling flowers, getting nothing for it. We’ve all noticed how they have disappeared. Moon is obviously buttering both sides of the fortune cookie because he is also a supporter of the Nation of Islam at times.

I am not going to tell you what I have found. I am going to let you do some thinking. When you go through the Viguerie connections, one word pops out to me: sleaze!

Then there is Richard Mellon Scaife, who is the money behind much of this. Scaife is one of John Tanton’s principle sources of funding. Just follow the bouncing little pointy KKK hat and see where it takes you – pure abject hatred and racism.

I am ashamed of the whole conservative movement as it stands today. This is not the conservative world of Ronald Reagan. This is something nasty, dark and dirty.

The problem began when Scaife, something of a conspiracy nut, sent his considerable forces out to dig up dirt on the Clintons. They responded by recruiting George Soros, and the billion dollar political poker began. Is one worse than the other? Probably not.

I think we would all be better off if the deep pockets of Moon, Soros, and Scaife were to bow out and leave us all alone. It seems to me the only thing they actually do is rouse the extremes of both liberals and conservatives. Or – maybe we need a moderate with deep pockets who can do the same thing they are doing. If so, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight, that’s for sure.

“…Rev. Moon’s Unification Church, which enjoys 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax status, is once again finding fertile ground for its political mission. Moon, the owner of the ultra-conservative Washington Times and a large group of other media outlets, including the recently acquired United Press International, delivered an address at the prayer luncheon, and then handed out complimentary copies of one of his books and other Unification Church materials.For a period of time during the past few years, things weren’t looking so good for the Reverend and his family. In 1998, Moon’s former daughter-in-law, Nansook Hong, wrote an explosive book, “In the Shadow of the Moons,” detailing her stormy relationship with Moon’s eldest son, Hyo Jin Moon, including alcoholism, drug abuse, wife beating and his cavorting with prostitutes. In October 1999, another of Moon’s sons, Phillip Youngiin Moon, committed suicide by jumping from a 17th-story balcony at Harrah’s hotel in Reno. According to Don Lattin, Religion writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, revelations in Nansook Hong’s book, coupled with the death of his son were important because they strike at the heart of Moon’s teachings “that he and his wife are the True Parents of a new spiritual lineage born without original sin.” Last year, Lattin reports, the Unification Church published a history of its U.S. ministry, “40 Years in America.” The book “ends with the clear anointing of Hyun Jin Nim, a graduate of Harvard Business School.”…… As we move into the new millennium, the Rev. Moon has begun to repackage himself and his Unification Church. His intention remains true – to unite all Christians under the authority of the “True Parents,” which, of course, are the Rev. Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han.”

Moon owns or controls:The Washington TimesUPIInsight MagazineNew World CommunicationNew York TribuneService for PeaceWashington Institute for Values in Public PolicyBridgeport AcademyUniversity of Bridgeport

This began as an expose of Richard Viguerie. It will be followed by one of William Greene and John Tanton.

RICHARD VIGUERIEBill Moyer, no friend of conservatives, once wrote,

“Richard A. Viguerie of American Target Advertising, a direct marketing advertising company, pioneered political/ideological direct mail in the 1960s and 1970s. That marriage of direct mail and politics enabled grassroots Americans to participate in the political process to a greater degree than ever before and built the conservative movement that elected President Reagan in 1980. Viguerie’s effort was so important that John F. Kennedy Jr.’s magazine, GEORGE, included it on its list of the defining political moments of the 20th century. In December 1999, Lee Edwards in a WASHINGTON TIMES column listed Richard Viguerie as one of 13 “Conservatives of the Century.” He is now pioneering the use of the Internet on behalf of conservative free-market politicians and organizations…”

“In 1977 he worked on a project to raise money for Sun Myung Moon’s Children’s Relief Fund, which reportedly only received 6.3% of the $1,508,256 raised. $920,000 went to Viguerie according to New York State charity auditors.[4][5]”

SARAH SCAIFE FOUNDATIONThe conservative Sarah Scaife Foundation has several hundred million dollars in assets. FAIR Associated with it is the Carthage Foundation One of the principle recipients is the Heritage FoundationFAIRThis foundation is one of FAIR’s principal sources of operating expenses.

“…The meetings are closed and attendees rarely speak publicly about the proceedings. The agenda of a meeting at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs in 1982 was filled with CNP members talking to the “already committed” about their favorite topics–Phyllis Schlafly on traditional values, Maj. Gen. John Singlaub on special operations in El Salvador, Gen. Albion Knight on national defense, and so on.(35) The list of speakers includes most of the major figures of the Right including: Philip Truluck of the Heritage Foundation; Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus; beer baron Joseph Coors; conservative columnist Patrick Buchanan; Frank Shakespeare, chairman of Heritage Foundation; direct mail wizard Richard Viguerie; Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority; the president of Amway Corp, Richard DeVos; Neal Blair, president of Free the Eagle; John (Terry) Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. delegate to the United Nations; and from the Christian Broadcasting Network, evangelist Pat Robertson.(35) …”

The most damning evidence against Scaife is the fact that he provides much of the money behind John Tanton. Now, look at the above list of organizations he controls and donates too, and you can see the nasty little racist network of anti-immigration organizations.

“…Grassroots — or AstroTurf? To be sure, this was no grassroots effort. Nor is NumbersUSA, in any sense of the word, a grassroots organization.

Despite attempts to appear otherwise, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Inc., a sprawling, nonprofit funding conduit that has spawned three anti-immigration groups and underwrites several others, many of which were represented at the NumbersUSA conclave.

What’s more, this interlocking network of supposedly independent organizations is almost entirely the handiwork of one man, a Michigan ophthalmologist named John H. Tanton.A four-month investigation by the Intelligence Report, conducted in the aftermath of the September terrorist attacks, found that the appearance of an array of groups with large membership bases is nothing more than a mirage.In fact, the vast majority of American anti-immigration groups — more than a dozen in all — were either formed, led, or in other ways made possible through Tanton’s efforts.

The principal funding arm of the movement, U.S. Inc., is a Tanton creation, and millions of dollars in financing comes from just a few of his allies, far-right foundations like those controlled by the family of Richard Mellon Scaife.Moreover, tax returns suggest that claims of huge numbers of members — in the case of one group, more than 250,000 — are geometric exaggerations put forward to create a false picture of a “movement” that politicians should pay attention to…”

A MINI RANTLet’s be honest here, aside from US English, there is nothing wrong with the donor list for this foundation. These are basically good people. I think we can say this about almost everyone on this list, until we come to the manipulators. The fact is, I am listing what these people have in common. We’re talking good, decent people who would be sick if they knew what was going on with some of their money. There is no way you can tell me Richard and Helen DeVos would be comfortable schmoozing with the likes of Sun Myung Moon, Richard Schoff, or Larry Pratt.

These are not the same people as John Tanton. I think if they ever realized where their hard earned millions were going and the connections they would be quite ill.

“…Richard Viguerie is best known for his RAVCO operations, a conservative direct mail fundraising empire. He also founded the Conservative Digest magazine and served as its publisher for 10 years. (3) Shortly after Richard Viguerie joined the board of the American Freedom Coalition, a Moon-related company bought the building which houses his headquarters. (22)…”

“…2006 Meeting…An example of the group’s far reaching influence on the conservative movement in the US is their May 9th 2006 meeting where speakers included NRA President Sandra Froman, Senator Rick Santorum, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, Heritage Foundation pres. Edwin Fuelner Jr., Phyllis Schlafly, Grover Norquist, US Amb. John Bolton, Oliver North and Robert Bork. [4]…”

One of the board members include Richard Shoff a former KKK leader in Indiana. When you read this, take a deep breath and a good stiff drink. You are going to need it. We have the tie-in to the KKK and the Pioneer Fund. You wanted a connection – well I did. Here it is. And Richard Viguerie is in it up to his ears. How about Pat Buchanan’s associate Larry Pratt..

“…Pratt addressed the 1992 “Christian Men’s Meeting,” organized by notorious Christian Identity racist, Pete Peters, is an established fact. That Pratt shared the platform with Aryan Nations fuhrer Richard Butler and “former” Klan “Grand Dragon,” Louis Beam, the neo-Nazi architect of “leaderless resistance,” is incontestable. That he gave a speech at the 1993 Jubilation Conference in Sacramento, California, an annual gathering of far-rightists’ sponsored by the anti-Semitic publisher of Jubilee, the flagship tabloid of the Christian Identity movement, is true and has been accurately reported by the bourgeois press. What should be of equal concern to the media is information about Mr. Pratt which is far more damaging — his close collaboration over a 20 year period with an international network of war criminals, neo-Nazi terrorists, and the organizers of Asian, European and Latin American death squads…”

NOTE: The source on this is questionable. We could be dealing with left net-roots, but we need to know what is going on. There is a smell test, and something stinks. Primarily here, though I am working on Richard Viguerie and his connections to various ‘conservative’ causes. You might want to read this membership directory just for the heck of it and see how many of these people have either turned on GWB, the GOP, or very staunch anti-immigration.

“…In his 1997 book, Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, (Common Courage Press, 1997), author Frederick Clarkson describes the relationship between Viguerie and Moon’s Unification Church (website):“…one of his first clients — in 1965 — was the Korean Cultural Freedom Foundation (KCFF) — a front for the UC [Unification Church] and the KCIA…[KCFF’s] ostensible purpose was to promote anti-communism…“Viguerie handled one of KCFF’s most sensitive projects, Radio of Free Asia, an explicitly KCIA operation that broadcast propaganda programs from studios in South Korea into North Korea, China and North Vietnam….“This was not Viguerie’s only Koreagate connection. He was also an original investor and director of the Washington, DC-based Diplomat National Bank, which investigators for the Securities and Exchange Commission discovered was secretly and illegally controlled by the KCIA and the Unification Church.”Viguerie also did pro bono work for the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) during the 1970s. WACL was founded in 1966 in Taipei, Taiwan. According to a profile posted at Right Web, WACL “was conceived as an expansion of the Asian People’s Anti-Communist League, a regional alliance against communism formed at the request of Chiang Kai-shek at the end of the Korean War.” According to Sara Diamond, Viguerie’s “ties to WACL may have had something to do with his winning the lucrative fundraising contract for the “Children’s Relief Fund,” sponsored by the Moonies’…KCFF. That was in 1977 — precisely the period when Viguerie was starting to organize the New Right resentment against the Carter administration. New York State charity auditors found that less than 6.3 percent of the $1,508,256 Viguerie raised actually went to needy Korean children. The “charity” went to…Viguerie, who netted a fee of more than $920,000.”Flush with dough, Viguerie founded the Conservative Digest magazine in 1974, an attempt says Sara Diamond, to build bridges “between the Old and New Right and “between ‘popular’ social conservatives in the south and more establishment Republicans.” In 1980, Viguerie raised somewhere between $35 million and $40 million for his clients. Side-stepping the liberal media even back then, Viguerie felt that every fundraising solicitation served two purposes: to raise money, and to raise awareness of front-burner conservative issues.

Financial problems forced Viguerie to sell Conservative Digest in 1985. Viguerie’s friendship with Moon’s operation paid off a year later when the Church “came to his aid financially,” Diamond writes. Viguerie landed the lucrative distribution account of the Unification Church-sponsored weekly news magazine called Insight. Then, in 1987, U.S. Property Development Corporation, a Moon-controlled entity bought Viguerie’s office building for $10.06 million….”

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SJ Reidhead (aka The Pink Flamingo) is a writer based in New Mexico. The author of two published novels, both westerns: Dust Devil and The Second Mrs. Earp and two published works of non-fictions: TRAVESTY: Frank Waters Earp Agenda Exposed and A Church for Helldorado, Endicott Peabody's 1882 Tombstone Diary. One of the leading authorities on the life of Wyatt Earp and Tombstone during the Earp years, she is currently writing a series of murder mysteries set in modern day Tombstone. The author is also working on a book about fashion in the Wild West. When complete, there will be over 2100 unpublished antique photographs dating from 1855-1910.

The author's work has appeared in Wild West, True West, Blogcritics, and The Tombstone Times. Recently the author has had to deal with a father who succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. This is leading to a book dealing with the frustrations of dealing with the frustrations of the disease, finance, legal, health-care, and things no one bothers telling families about it. She is currently working on a murder mystery series set in modern day Tombstone and Cochise County. Several books of essays on Christian living are currently in edits. A book of essays and revisions of articles about Wyatt Earp has been completed and will include her latest work detailing her theory about the murder of his second wife, Mattie.

SJ Reidhead has been involved in Republican politics since she was 'a little kid'. During the Reagan years she was a lobbyist working with various non-profit organizations who were attempting to salvage NASA and the American space program after the disastrous Carter years. In spite of ups and downs, and numerous disappointments, politically, it is obvious the only political hope for this country is via the Republican Party. Along with politics she is an opera fanatic, has been known to stalk baritones to the point of being a baritone junkie, and loves baseball.

The Pink Flamingo went on line on October 4, 2005.

THE PINK FLAMINGO STORY

It started out as a joke. During the seven years I worked with the girls of my parish, leading a youth group, one of the things that I stressed were manners. Part of having manners, the way I see it, is to know how to set a proper table, host a party, cater it, and clean up afterward. I was fortunate enough to have a group of very talented girls in my youth group. They learned how to plan for, and execute large church functions, very properly. During one such function I noticed there were several incredibly tacky pink flamingos sitting on the table. Knowing the girls were up to something, I said nothing. A few months later they did the same thing at a function I was hosting at my home. I said nothing. They had a birthday party for me. More pink flamingos appeared - and a joke was born.

Thanks to the girls, all of whom are now grown, I have a collection of pink flamingos. It has become an ongoing joke. When I began working on my political blog, I realized the only possibly title was The Pink Flamingo!